What a way to make my day!

Oh my goodness! I've been given an award! The Droolworthy Award! Valli of More Than Burnt Toast has deemed me worthy of drooling and I have to say at the very least I am dead "chuffed". (Now how's that for a saying! Yes, I have been well and truly anglicized!)

I feel as if I have been given an Academy Award or something, and in a way it's probably even more special than that, for it is an award that comes from a peer, a fellow food blogger,a fellow foodie, a fellow food porn addict that trolls the internet looking for their next titillating and salacious image of a delicious recipe and hopefully the tantalizing words to go along with it! (there is nothing more frustrating than coming across a delicious looking picture of food posted on a journal by an author who selishly neglects to also give you the recipe! I know you can all feel my pain here!)

Anyways, all kidding aside, I do want to thank Valli for this. It does mean an awful lot. Especially since I have only been doing this food blog for a short time and so am a relatively new kid on the block!

The award comes with a responsability, and that is to pass it along and so I do to several very worthy recipients. They always make me drool, and ... they always include the recipes!

Nic of Cherrapeno
Julie of Tulips Kitchen
Amanda of Little Foodies
Hannah of Hannah's Country Kitchen (yes, she was a finalist in Master Chef 2007)

I musn't disappoint and to make sure my award really is well deserved, here is something to drool over today . . . (this feels like a celebration, so let's all eat cake!)



*Golden Celebration Cake*
Serves 12
What could be any better than a good old fashioned Victorian Sponge cake? Why a version made with golden sugars, stuffed with raspberries, filled with clotted cream and more raspberries and topped with frosted rose petals of course!

6 ounces of golden caster sugar
6 ounces of butter, softened
4 large eggs, separated
4 ounces self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 ounces ground almonds
3 to 5 drops almond extract
1 heaping cup of fresh raspberries
For the Filling:
1 (227g) container of Cornish Clotted Cream
1 cup fresh raspberries
For the Decoration:
2 - 3 ounces golden caster sugar
1 egg white, lightly beaten to a froth
4 ounces icing sugar

Begin by making the frosted rose petals the day before. Separate the petals and spread the castor sugar over a plate. Holding one petal at a time, lightly paint both sides with egg white. Spoon sugar over it, then using tweezers, shake off the excess. Dry on parchment paper for a day. (Use only pesticide free roses)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter two 8-inch round cake tins and line their bases with parchment paper. Set aside.

Tip the sugar into a mixing bowl and add the softened butter. Beat for a minute or so until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolks. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then sift over the cake mixture. Fold in as lightly as you can using a large metal spoon, then fold in the almonds and extract. Stop folding as soon as the flour traces have gone.

Whisk the egg whites until they just hold their shape. Gently fold in a third of the egg white into the cake mix, using a whisk. Repeat with another third, then the final third. Take care not to over mix and lose the lightness of the egg whites. Lightly fold in the raspberries.
Divide the batter between the prepared tins and level the mixture using a round bladed knife. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks, peel off the lining paper and leave to cool completely.

Set one cake on a serving plate. Spoon the clotted cream evenly over top. Scatter the raspberries over and put the other cake on top. Blend the icing sugar with 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water until it is smooth and coats the back of a spoon thinly. Drizzle the icing over the cake.
Scatter the rose petals over and around the cake, dust with icing sugar and serve to some very lucky people.